Measuring Social Media ROI
KD Paine’s data-driven analysis of how journalists use social media kicked off the sessions I attended at today’s Marketing Profs online conference.
First, her most memorable quotes on the trends in PR 2.0:
“I check Twitter before I check email.”
“Everyone is a journalist, and there are no more deadlines.”
“Twitter is news before it’s news.”
These recent changes in news-gathering have changed how journalists and marketers relate, as indicated in some telling facts from one of her recent media relations surveys:
- 100% of “millennial” journalists, ages 18-29, believe new media communication tools are enhancing journalism.
- Only 40% of journalists ages 50-64 think these tools are important.
- 87% of journalists ages 18-29 confirm new media communications are enhancing their relationships with their audiences.
- Only 42% of journalists ages 50-64 agree.
- 48% of all respondents use LinkedIn and 45% use Facebook to assist in their reporting.
- 68% of all respondents use blogs to keep up with issues.
- 86% of all respondents use company websites for information about an organization.
For marketers, KD shared her ”7 Steps to Social Media ROI”:
(1) Define the R (what return is expected?)
(2) Define the I (what’s the investment?)
(3) Understand your audiences and what motivates them
(4) Define the metrics (what do you want to become?)
(5) Determine what you are benchmarking against
(6) Pick a tool and start your research
(7) Analyze results, gain insight, take action — and keep measuring
If you remember nothing else, repeat after KD: “You are what you measure.”
